Blank ammunition firing attachment for automatic guns



April 6, 1937*. R. R. sTuDLER 2,075,837

BLANK AMMUNITION FIRING ATTACHMENT FOR AUTOMATIC GUNS Filed June 3, 1936 ITM/'Entlzu"i RET-LE E- Etudler' Atturney.

Patented Apr.k 6, 1937 UNITED STATES BLANK AMIWUNITION FIRING ATTACH- MENT FOR AUTOMATIC GUNS Ren a. studia, washington, D. c. Application June 3, 1936, Serial No. 83,311

1 Claim.

(Granted under the am of March 3, 1883, as amended Aprn so, 192s; 37o o. G. 757) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, Without the payment to r me of any royalty thereon.

" The subject of this invention is a blank ammunition ring attachment for automatic guns, and it is designed primarily for use with a Browning machine gun.

w The main objects of the invention are the provision of an attachment which may be easily attached to and removed from the gun; one which will completely disintegrate the wad; which will lend itself to use with blank ammunition or ball cartridges with the change of a minimum number of parts; and one in which the accumulation of deposit at the muzzle of the gun will be comparatively slight.

The objects are attained by the provision of a quick detachable barrel jacket, a muzzle attachment adapted to receive a wad disintegrating plug on a protective ring having a large `opening for use when ball cartridges are to be red, and one which is formed to remove deposits from the Q5 muzzle end of the barrel through the reciprocation of the barrel;

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention resides in the novel arrangement and combination of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed,

" it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

A practical embodiment of the invention is shown by way of illustration in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a fragment a machine gun equipped with the attachment;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal section of the attachment;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the barrel support;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4--4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged longitudinal section of the muzzle attachment;

Fig. '7 is a section on the line 1-'-1 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section of the plug;

Fig. 9 is an end elevation of the plug;

Fig. 10 is a sectional View of the thread protector;

Fig. 11 is an end elevation of the thread protector.

Referring to the drawing by numerals of reference:

The machine gun is provided with a barrel I and a barrel support 2 a portion of which is shown and which is attached in any usual manner to the trunnion block or other part of the gun. An interrupted thread or flange 3 is formed on the barrel support adjacent the front end thereof to be engaged by similar elements 4 formed on the interior of the enlarged rear end of a jacket 5 which is adapted to house` the barrel. To hold the jacket in place with the elements 3 and 4 in engagement the support is drilled to provide apertures 6 adapted to selectively receive a lug 'l carried by a spring 8 secured to the jacket adjacent its rear end. The front end of the jacket 5 is preferably enlargedas at 9 and such enlarged portion is interiorly threaded to receive the threaded reduced rear end of an attachment III. Y

'I'he attachment Ill is formed with a longitudinal axial bore, the diameter of which is slightly greater than the interior diameter of the muzzle of the gun barrel so as to receive the muzzle with an easy sliding fit, and in the walls of the bore at the rear end thereof is cut a spiral groove II terminating at its forward end in an annular groove I2 provided with ports I3 so that accumulations or deposits from the powder gases may be scraped from the muzzle of the barrel during its reciprocation and blown through such ports. Formed in the wall of the bore in advance of the groove I2 is an annular groove I4, preferably of greater width than the groove I2 and provided with ports I5 for the escape of gases of combustion. The front end of the attachment is counterbored and threaded to receive a plug I6 when used for firing blank ammunition, or a protector ring I1 when ring ball ammunition.

The plug I6 has a central longitudinal bore I8 terminating at its rear end in a ared conical mouth I9 for the purpose of guiding the wad toward the bore which is of a diameter to disintegrate the wad.

I claim:

The combination with a gun having a reciproeating barrel and a barrel support surrounding the barrel at the breech end thereof, of a barrel jacket surrounding the barrel, a quick detachable connection between the support and jacket, a muzzle attachment in the forward end of the jacket provided with a bore into the rear end of which the muzzle of the barrel projects, a spiral groove in the wall of the bore surrounding the muzzle of the barrel, the forward end of the groove terminating in an annular groove provided with spaced ports, an annular groove in advance of the aforesaid annular groove said groove being provided with ports, and a plug in the forward end of the attachment provided with an axial bore of a diameter to disintegrate a wad.

REN R. STUDLER. 

